Monster's Salvation
by ShadowCatRose
Summary: How long were they supposed to pretend everything was okay? After Rose disappeared, Inuyasha just wasn't the same. Rose, too. The struggle to free herself from her Demon blood only gets harder everyday. Both of them just want to give up hope, but even thousands of miles apart, they're still giving each other strength.[Sequel to "Monster Like Me". I don't own Inuyasha characters.]
1. Phantom

Chapter 1: Phantom

Smoke and fire was rising into the sky. It was supposed to be a peaceful night in late spring. Now, Tokyo isn't exactly the quietest of cities, but a house fire? That's not really what the neighborhood had in mind for a "lively" Saturday night. This was just a little bit too much.

Firefighters, police officers, and several concerned neighbors were watching the blazing house with wide eyes. Firefighters had tried multiple times to go in and rescue the two children trapped in their bedroom on the top floor, but to no avail. The blaze was too hot.

The parents had made it out all right. Both of them had been sitting on the couch, having some quality time, when the blaze started upstairs in their bedroom. Thanks to the power being out in this part of the neighborhood from the storm yesterday, with all of the candles about, there was bound to be a disaster. The family's house cat had knocked over a candle, and well, the carpet in the master bedroom was set on fire. News anchors were outside reporting the story, so the whole neighborhood and anybody watching the news at this ridiculous hour of the night knew what was going on.

When the father went back into the house to retrieve the kids, he was forced to evacuate when he discovered the stairs had caught fire and were crumbling. It wasn't safe to make it up the stairway, so they were trying to get into a bedroom window to get the children out of the house.

A second floor window shouldn't exactly be a problem for firefighters to get into the house, but the window in the parent's bedroom was blocked with fire, while the only window to the kid's bedroom ended up being blocked by the children's collapsed bunk bed. Now it was just a pile of rubble, so the two young children were trapped and it was going to take a while to get them out.

Too long.

Good thing a "willing volunteer" suddenly burst through the crowd, over the police barriers, and dashed through the open door of the burning house, running right through flames. Many people were screaming and gasping in surprise as the black-cloaked figure ran into the building. The whole doorway had been blocked by fire, that person was CLEARLY suicidal. Surely he or she was already burning to death by now.

Not really. Inside of the house, the figure was running through the flames like they weren't even there. As it reached the stairs, it didn't even bother walking up them. In a magnificent display of ability, the person was at the top of the stairs after a massive leap, landing lightly on dirty pale feet.

**BLAM! **That crumbling and cracked door was no match for this brave soul. With a mighty kick, despite being barefoot, it knocked the door to the kids' bedroom right off of the hinges. How this mysterious person knew which room to look was anybody's guess. The whole door went flying across the room until it smashed into a wall, splintered, and broke into several pieces.

The pair of children, one girl of at least seven and her toddler brother, were both huddled in the closet together, crying for their parents to come get them. Their rescuer hastily opened the closet door and knelt down so both of them could see that someone had come to their aid.

For some odd reason, the little girl took one glance at the stranger and started screaming, holding onto her brother for dear life, but with an eye roll, the stranger clapped a pair of small hands together to get her attention again as well as to put a stop to the shrill cries.

"We don't have time for this! Your parents are waiting outside, okay? I'm not here to hurt you; I'm just trying to get you out of here. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You can come with me, or I'm going to drag you and your brother out of the closet, kicking and screaming. Trust me; I have no problem dragging you out of here." From the sound of the voice chastising the pair in Japanese, our hero was definitely a heroine, but she didn't seem like she was in the best of moods. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave both of the children a stern look.

Her brother wasted no time climbing out of the closet and running to the safety of the stranger, but it took a few reluctant seconds before he was joined by his sister.

"Good, I'm glad we got that settled. One moment please." After a bit of rustling, the stranger took an article of clothing off without removing her cloak. It was a red haori, big enough for an adult to wear. "You are going to put this on, all right? I'm going to carry your brother, but you're stuck with a piggy back ride." She lifted the toddler up in both of her arms before crouching down. "Come on, up you go."

She nodded and slipped the large jacket on before climbing up onto the stranger's back. Even at her age, the sleeves were too long and the hem was almost to her knees, but before she could fix it, the woman pulled the collar up so it covered her head.

"Keep it baggy on you. It's magic; it'll protect you from the fire, okay?" A warm smile crossed the woman's features. Now that the kids were cooperating, she was being much friendlier. That seemed to boost the girl's confidence and she smiled back.

"I suggest you hold on. This is gonna be fast!" The girl couldn't resist the urge to laugh as the odd lady left their burning bedroom and moved into the hallway. At the top of the stairs, another massive leap landed her at the bottom of the steps. Then, she made a mad dash for the doorway, seemingly moving faster than any human being possibly should move.

Not a second too soon. Looks like the children's bedroom just experienced a flashover. The firefighters, had this stranger not shown up, would have lost the lives of two innocent kids. People were jeering and the parents were shouting with joy when that crazy cloaked stranger came out with both kids, safe and sound.

The toddler was giggling in delight, totally forgetting about what had just happened, because he was so fascinated with the stranger's markings on her face. He wanted to touch her face, but she quickly put him down so he could wobble on over to the firefighters. She let the girl slide off of her back and crouched down so she was eye level with the child.

"All right, safe and sound. I need to go home now, and I kind of need the haori back. It belongs to a friend of mine, and I need to give it back to him."

Since the lady was nice enough to save her and her brother, the girl eagerly returned the haori back to her. It was much too big for her to wear, anyway.

"Thanks. You'd better go see your parents, they look a bit worried." Nobody was allowed to approach the house passed the police barriers, so the poor mother had to be held back to keep her from rushing to her children. She didn't have to wait there long, the little girl was running across the lawn right up to her parents to go tell them about the cool adventure she just had.

One firefighter came rushing up towards the house to get the stranger away from the still burning house and to one of the paramedics waiting to get her looked at, but she just waved. Then, in the blink of an eye, she was gone, just like that.

That was one night the whole neighborhood was never going to forget.


	2. Without You

Chapter 2: Without You

_"Rose, that wasn't a good idea…they saw you! Why did you…?"_

I made it a point to turn and glare at the transparent figure leaning against the brick wall while I paced back and forth. She must have been so beautiful in life. The young adult woman wearing the traditional Japanese shine-maiden uniform had worry written in her big brown eyes. She brushed the bangs of her long dark hair out of her ghostly eyes so she could get a better look at me.

Yeah, I've seen better days. Even in my cloak, she can tell something is clearly wrong with me. A human would just assume I'm some sort of drug addict from the pale skin, violent shaking and how much I was sweating. The truth doesn't even come close.

"What the HELL was I SUPPOSED to do, Kagome!?…Thought I would be fine…I was until I got away from the house…" Another spasm wracked my spine so I wrapped my arms around myself to try to keep myself from shaking.

Kagome sighed and placed a hand lightly on my head, so I stopped moving and turned to look at her with my gaunt face. If she pressed down too hard, her hand would pass right through me. Sometimes having the priestess take on a physical form to give me some company was a bother, but now was not one of those times. She seemed to understand my need to go help out that family.

In truth, she's not really here. She's just a spirit, if any of you geniuses didn't figure it out yet. She's actually inside of me, keeping my soul company and combatting my Demon blood at the same time. Nobody else can see her or talk to her but me, for the moment.

_"…Sorry I'm not helping much…I'm trying so hard, your soul can't take much more of this…"_

"I know, that, Kagome, and I'm just glad you're still trying." I spoke to her through gritted fangs, so it came out rougher than it sounded. I wasn't mad at her for anything; it's just hard to sound pleasant when the beast is trying to invade.

_**GET THIS DAMN PRIESTESS OUT OF HERE, NOW! LET ME OUT, YOU WENCH!**_

"DAMN IT, KAGOME, I CAN HEAR HER!" It's been a while since I've been able to hear her in my head. I snarled in rage and punched the brick wall that made up one side of the alley, knocking a big chunk out of it. "SHUT HER UP! SHUT HER UP!"

Her claws were scraping the surface of my brain. You don't know what it's like to have another being trying to invade your body. It felt like somebody put a huge block of ice on my back, and the cold spreads the further she can get.

Poor Kagome, she looked like she was about to panic. Sometimes my "fits" scared her a bit. That's one of the reasons she was so determined to help me. The priestess told me once that her soul had been in unrest, worrying over Inuyasha, so she stayed as a spirit to look after him. She came to my aid when she realized the spirit of a priestess would be more useful to me than to Dog-Breath right now. If we didn't keep that monster at bay, there's no telling what she would do.

"_Just calm down and give me a second, I'm doing the best I can!"_ Her powers aren't very strong now that she's dead, but still, she was trying, I had to give her that much. The constant battle between her and the Demon was kind of wearing her out, too.

For the first month or two, we worked so hard to keep me in control while we waited for Adrian. It wasn't long before he joined us in Tokyo. We'd found traces of him, come across him once or twice, but never actually defeated him. Well, killing him would be nice, but that wasn't our priority right now.

You see, Adrian has a new little trinket. He's been wearing a necklace around his neck ever since he had one of his buddies, William, bind my soul. It has a purple gem for the pendant, which Kagome called a soul shard. While that gem exists, my soul can't escape its confines. Therefore, I can't regain myself completely until I destroy it.

I have one similar to Adrian's. They always come as a pair. Unfortunately, I'm not wearing the twin gem as a pretty little necklace. It's inside of my body. Yeah, kind of gross, but that's how William did it. My soul is trapped in that shard, and the second shard is how it draws its power to keep my spirit subdued without "running out of juice". His soul shard feeds on his energy to keep the whole thing going.

If I tried destroying the one inside of me, my soul would be destroyed; leaving the beast inside of me to claim the body as her own and nothing would be left of me but a killing machine.

Though, I have to be thankful that William used this method. Kagome's purification powers wouldn't work on me without it. She has a talent with purifying gems, so as long as she purifies that gem and keeps the Demon blood away from it, I'm in control. You could consider this form a "purified form" of my full Demon form. Though, she's not always winning the fight.

She and I have been at this since Christmas, and now it's almost the end of spring and getting closer to the start of summer. Thinking of summer made me think of Inuyasha. The thought of him had a bit of a calming effect on me. I took a deep breath and calmed down. The twitching, shaking, sweating and cold feeling finally ceased as I focused on the image of him I engrained into my brain.

What was he doing…? Finishing his junior year up, no doubt. Selene probably aced everything, as usual. I pity Inuyasha. Without me there, Selene will undoubtedly have her mouth running a mile a minute talking about her boyfriend, Koga. Usually she gushes all about her dates with him to me.

I sighed. Thinking about my friends was just going to get me depressed again. I sat down and moved into a more meditative position, legs crossed with my hands resting on my knees, focusing on taking deep breaths and keeping the face of my dog-eared buddy on my mind.

"…_That did the trick pretty good. Your aura is a lot calmer."_

"Your focusing trick works wonders."

"_What were you focusing on?"_

"…" That was kind of hard to answer. She knows about my feelings for her ex-mate. We had a talk about this, saying that she was fine with it and everything since she's dead and all, but I still hate doing this to her, so I kept my mouth shut. She'd figure it out on her own without me having to tell her. Sparing her feelings was the least I could do for all she's done to help me over a nearly five-month period.

She quickly changed the subject. _"The full moon is coming up next week. You'll get a break for a few hours." _Despite the fact that my soul is bound, it is still inside of my body, which means the night I become completely human still comes around. For one night, once a month, Kagome and I can do nothing but just rest from all of the chaos. She and I both enjoyed the break. I used to hate my weakness, but right now, I count it as a blessing.

"Thank the kami for that." I turned to her and opened one eye, giggling a bit. I owe a lot to Kagome. "You sure deserve the break. Even a ghost needs rest once in a while, especially when dealing with a depressed Demon that currently is suffering from a multiple personality disorder, plus also having to teach that same Demon Japanese so I know what the hell everybody is saying."

"_Don't give it a second thought! You're making my afterlife a lot less boring. Do you KNOW what spirits do for fun? They watch other people living their lives. One, it's kind of creepy stalking people, and two, it's just plain boring. You just get jealous after a while. I think this vacation to Tokyo is fun anyway! Seeing how my hometown has changed over the years is interesting."_

"One of these days, I'll take you to go see your old shrine, like I promised. Right now, if your family is there though, it's not safe."

"_No rush, I've got all the time in the world." _A girlish giggle escaped her lips as she sat down next to me and visibly relaxed.

"It's kind of late; we really should get some sleep. It's almost sunrise."

"_After the little adventure you just had as well as getting yourself through another one of your fits, I think that would be a good idea. You're looking kind of sickly, too…" _She placed a hand on my forehead, as if she was trying to see if I had a fever, but I laughed at her.

"Kagome, you're doing it again. You can't feel, remember?"

"_Oh, right, sorry. It's a bit of a habit. I practically raised Shippo, so I…I'm just used to being a mother figure. He's grown up a lot…"_

"Yeah, I miss him. Let's hope our little plan goes according to plan and everything turns out all right. Then we'll get to see all of them again."

"_Don't worry, everything will be okay."_ We both started giggling as I started climbing up the wall with my sharp claws to get onto the building to our left, the one with the flat roof. Kagome just floated up with me, all ghost-like. I plopped down onto the chilly, rough surface, sighing as I looked up at the sky.

"Even in Tokyo, I still can't see the stars…"

Kagome plopped down next to me and also looked at the sky. _"Yeah, it's just how it is. Too many lights. This is even worse than where you used to live."_ She glanced over at me. _"What do you miss about home?"_

"Clean clothes." Both of us burst out laughing with that. She and I could spend hours complaining about me being unable to take a proper bath, since my face isn't exactly a welcome sight anywhere. I felt so bad about stealing this cloak to cover me up, I hadn't even stolen more clothes to change out of the dress that Adrian made me wear. I just made some…modifications…to it. The big poufy layers had been ripped off, so only the base layer was left, so I looked like I was wearing a knee-length black dress with spaghetti straps.

She could relate. The Feudal Era didn't have shampoo or baths; she was stuck with hot springs. I wish I could go to a hot springs, but finding one that doesn't have an entry fee nowadays is almost impossible, and I'm absolutely broke. I have to keep stealing to feed myself. I've lost a bunch of weight because I try to avoid eating like the plague now. No wonder Kagome worries about my health constantly.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow night. Well, see THROUGH you, more like it." She just chuckled at my ghost joke. She wouldn't be sleeping at all, she doesn't need it. Kagome acts as a look-out when I go to sleep, just in case a certain Demon tries to sneak up on me, or a human stumbles upon me while I'm resting.

"_Good night…Rose…"_

"Night…Kagome…"

…..

"…You got a C? That arithmetic quiz was SO easy!"

"Shut up, Selene!" The brunette in the pigtails and red glasses was mocking me for my average grades again. No matter how much I wanted to punch her, I resisted the urge. Koga would rip me a new one if she came crying to him. Throwing my test on my desk, my head soon followed as I let it fall onto the wooden surface. It's not like it was going to hurt me, anyway.

"I'll help you study for the final, if that makes you feel any better…" Selene's been a lot more sensitive to my attitude since…since she disappeared. Instead of keeping up her teasing like she always does, she quickly changes the subject to try to calm me down. These days I get irritated easily.

"Thanks, but no thanks." The last thing I want is for Selene to come over my house. Shippo's been in a miserable mood, and with both of us miserable, Sesshomaru has been a total ass. My house is just full of a pack of gloomy and irritable Demons.

"Oh, okay…Koga and I are going to the movies this weekend. Want to come?"

"I've got a project to finish."

"Your project can wait a few hours while YOU get outside of your house and go have some fun!"

"…Just stop it, Selene. I know what you are trying to do."

"Come on, your girlfriend won't mind if you hang out with us, considering she dumped you a month ago because you wouldn't hang out with her anymore."

Who cares about Ally? I didn't want her as my girlfriend anyway. I hate blondes. I only told her I would go out with her when I got mad at Rose to get over her. For a few weeks after she vanished, I went out with her just to shut her up about me not acting like her boyfriend. I practically praised the kami when she called me and dumped me because she got bored.

Now I just don't give a damn about going out anymore. Sure, once in a while, I'll go with Selene and Koga to do something, but not today. Thinking about her…it just…it kind of hurts.

"Hello, Selene calling Inuyasha! The bell just rang? Time to go home." I rolled my eyes at her as she laughed at me and left the classroom. Sometimes she acts like such a kid. What a pain in the butt. I don't know how Rose stands her.

I grabbed my bags and hastily headed for the door. It's not that I was eager to get home; I just wanted to get out of school. I used to look forward to school, especially Ramen Fridays, but now I just wanted to skip all my classes for just ONE DAY and do SOMETHING besides contemplating other places to look for her.

Every time we got a holiday break or a longer weekend, I'd pick a place and look around for her. I swear I must have checked all over the state and the coastline, I had nothing. Sesshomaru had even pitched in on my search. He's got Demon friends in high places, and they were keeping a look out for her. So far, nothing. It's like she fled the entire country, and with school, I don't have time to go to other countries to find her.

Where would I even start looking?

For the past month I was fighting with myself, deciding on whether or not to spend my summer around the damn planet looking for her, and even if I did, where I would start?

Maybe going for a run later would clear my head. I hate to admit, but Selene's right. I need some fresh air, but ALONE. I can't think straight if that smelly wolf is hanging around me.

As I headed home, I couldn't help but reach under my shirt and pull out that stupid pendant that she gave me. Yeah, it looks girly and all, but that's the last thing she gave me before she vanished.

_If only she'd given me some clue as to where she's hiding…why couldn't she have taken me with her!? I could have helped her if she explained what happened…_ That whole battle was a little fuzzy for all of us, except for Koga. He was the only one conscious for the entire battle. Can't believe Adrian got away again.

_…Adrian…if he did anything to hurt her…_ I didn't need to finish that sentence, thanks to the twenty billion violent ideas roaming through my brain. _I just wish I knew how she was doing…but there's been no sign. No notes, no messages, not even any of those stupid familiars. She's such a damn moron! _The next time I saw her, I had a few things I needed to tell her, one of them being how much of an idiot she's being. I wanna kill her and hug her at the same time.

I hardly noticed I was home until Shippo came charging over to me with his fuzz ball of a tail wiggling. He sure was excited about something.

"Hey, Inuyasha! Guess what? My class is going to a field trip to the zoo! Isn't that great?"

A field trip…damn it, why'd he have to bring that up!? Growling in irritation, I flopped face-first onto the couch and tossed my backpack at him. It smacked him right in the face and he fell over.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"Leave me alone, Shippo!"

"…Uh…okay…sorry…" Shippo, apologizing for getting on my nerves? That's weird. Am I getting that irritable…?

"Shippo…I didn't mean nothin' by it."

"Yeah, I know. Just another one of those days for ya. I'll stay out of your hair. Make sure you get your homework done! Sesshomaru already ordered pizza for dinner."

"…Again?" I would kill to have some ramen right now. "Maybe I'll just turn in early after I go for a run…"

"Okay. See ya later, then!" Shippo waved quickly to me before he and his little fox feet darted down the hallway towards his room.

I got up from the couch and grumbled. That run sounded good right about now. I retreated into my room to change out of my stupid school uniform and into my hakama. At least I'd have some peace and quiet, and FINALLY GET OUT OF THIS MONKEY SUIT! Shippo should count himself lucky he doesn't have to wear a uniform.

When I was all done changing into nothing but my hakama, I slipped out of the house through the back door and over the fence to get into the woods. Then, I shifted into my dog form and started running as fast as I could go. The breeze felt good in my fur. Sometimes pretending to be a human in this time period sucks. I'm getting soft from lack of exercise, I just know it. Maybe I'll go aggravate Koga sometime just so I can get into a fight.

Thanks to Rose not being here, neither was that asshole, Adrian. I had nobody to beat up! Shippo doesn't count, I can't go full force on him; he's just a kid. Sesshomaru's too busy with work to spar with me, either.

Damn it, everything I do makes me think about her! She's weaseled her way into my life and now I can't get her out. I can't help it if I'm worried about her. I'm not even sure what she was doing, leaving the country. What was so important for her to take care of…? I wish I knew. _If it was to kill Adrian, she knows damn well she can't handle him by herself, especially with those barriers…_ we'd only run into the guy a few times, but he was going to be trouble for her on her own. The coward was too chicken to fight man-to-man when I'm with her, so he always had somebody else do the work.

All of this was so confusing. I took a second to sit down (Yes, like a dog, but if you laugh at me I'll rip your head off!) and think a bit. Resting my large head in my paws, I let out an irritated snort, blowing a few loose pieces of grass around in the air before they settled down again.

_Part of me understands why she wants to do this alone. Selene and everybody else were totally surprised when both Adrian and she admitted that she accidentally killed her father…and he made her do it, sort of. It made so much sense when the truth came out. But, still, what's the problem with asking for our help…? She sounds like me before I learned what the hell friendship is. Can't she see we're just trying to help her…? I don't get it._

I stood up to head back, but an annoying biting feeling was making my neck itch, so I scratched it with my hind foot until a familiar speck went flying from my pelt and right into a tree. I changed back and frowned at the stupid flea.

"Oh, it's just you, Old Myoga. What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were staying with Totousai."

"Master Inuyasha, it's a pleasure to see you!" The small bald Flea Demon went from being as flat as a pancake to popping back into his usual tiny 3D shape before he hopped on over to my shoulder. He hadn't changed a bit. Even still wearing his Feudal Era clothes? Sheesh, what a weird flea.

"What do you want, Myoga? I'm not in the mood to just let you sit there and bite me!"

"I'm sorry, Master Inuyasha, but I couldn't resist! I missed the taste of your blood so much…"

"Get to the point, Myoga! I know you're here for more than that. I know damn well that you don't show up just to bite me, because if you did, I'd be REAL pissed off." I gave him one of my super angry faces that usually will scare the shit out of him.

Ha, it worked. He was shaking in his hakama.

"Uh, I, well, overheard from Totousai, who heard from Sesshomaru that you're in a bit of a pickle."

"…How much do you know…?" Was he talking about Rose?

"Not much, to be honest. I just heard that you had a friend that recently went missing and you haven't had the time to go out and find her. I thought…perhaps…I could be of some sort of assistance…?"

"…You're trying to hide from your fiancé again, aren't you?"

"…Master Inuyasha, of course not! I was genuinely concerned for your happiness when…"

"…I'm not an idiot, Myoga."

"Oh, all right, I admit it! PLEASE, command me to use my resources to find your friend! I can go to many places that you can't while you are in school!"

"…Knock yourself out. A little extra help isn't going to hurt." I sighed. Just giving the damn flea what he wants will get him off my back for a while. Damn flea, only showing up when he needs something and running away when danger comes around.

"I'll bring word if I or any of my contacts find anything! I promise! You won't regret this, Master Inuyasha!" He seemed like he was on the verge of tears. I just snorted at him as he went hopping away on his stubby little legs. At least he'll be doing something useful instead of lounging around Totousai's workshop.

"Stupid flea…I'm going home…" My shoulder and back muscles were starting to get sore from all the running, so I stuck to this form and started jogging back towards the house. Man, how far did I run today!?


	3. Secrets

Chapter 3: Secrets

It felt like I was barely sleeping for five seconds before I heard Kagome's voice screaming at me through the darkness, cutting through the silence of my nonexistent dream.

_"Rose, you've got company! Demon hunters!"_

Those words woke me instantly and I bolted to my feet, snarling and crouching like a beast instinctively. Damn those bastards! Sometimes my feats of kindness around town got their attention, which drew them to me. That's the only downside to being the secret guardian angel around here, the spotlight gets put on me and I get all kinds of attention, good and bad.

_Click, click!_

_**Oh, goodie, they brought their toys for us to play with!**_

___Kagome, can you get rid of that bitch please? I'd rather not have this fight end up like last time! _Yeah, thanks to that bitch nearly getting free the last time I had a run-in with the hunters, I kind of…well, I nearly ripped a guys' arm off.

_"I'm on it, just start running! You'll lose them eventually!"_

While the ghostly figure of Kagome floated beside me, matching my pace, I turned tail and ran the opposite direction of where the scent of humans and guns were coming from. Shots fired from a sniper rifle on a roof two buildings over, but with my hearing heightened to an extraordinary degree in this form, I dodged them easily. Yeah, my cloak got a few bullet holes, but what's new? I'm always being shot at, better the cloak than me.

As I leapt onto another roof, this juggernaut of a human, wearing typical Demon hunter armor, came barreling through the door that led to the very roof we were standing on. I wasted no time. I turned to him and gnashed my fangs in warning, but he kept charging right towards me.

I ducked his first sloppy human right hook and then blocked his left with my right arm. My knee came up and smashed into his ribcage. I heard the sound of bones cracking and I winced. I didn't mean to hit him that hard, but I still hadn't gotten the hang of how much stronger this form was. Oh well, at least my knee didn't go clean through his chest. That would have been messy.

Hah, at least I brought him down. He was on the ground whimpering like the pathetic human he is. _Man, now I'm starting to think like her._

_**Told you that this body would be mine eventually.**_

_ Go back to Hell where you belong, monster! I've got other things to worry about besides you and your self-absorbed bullshit._

_ "Sorry, she's tougher to keep away today, it's the Demon hunters."_

_ No worries, Kagome, you're doing great. Let's keep this up!_

I took off again and dropped off the side of the roof, landing into an alleyway. It's the middle of the day now, since I've been sleeping while the sun is up like the nocturnal (and hopefully temporary) Demon I am. Hiding in the shadows would be my best bet for losing these punks.

Jumping over fences and darting around trash cans, I made my way farther into the darkness, moving as fast as I possibly could.

But, the Demon hunters used that to their advantage. I was so busy trying to escape, I didn't notice the trap until it was too late. They'd covered it up in alley trash like old newspaper, so I stepped right on it, activating the pressure pad. Now there were the sharp metal teeth of a bear trap buried into my ankle.

A screech of fury escaped my lips. _SON OF A FUCKING BITCH! _A bear trap, really? That's SO old school. I had to take a second to pry the metal jaws open to free the trapped limb before moving again.

I would kill to have Inuyasha's durability right now. Limping on an injured ankle cut my speed by at least a third.

_"We need to find a place to hide until they give up the chase!"_

"I don't exactly know the layout of Tokyo, Kagome! Give me some ideas, for Christ's sake!" Usually when other people are around, I communicate with her in my head instead of talking to the physical shape of her aloud, but I'm just so damn irritable right now, I forgot. "Unless there's a huge crowd of homeless people hanging around, there are not many places I can disappear into!"

_"I'm not sure! Uh, let's see…hey, look! Dumpster on your left!"_

"Good thinking!" I threw the lid open and practically threw myself inside before quickly closing it, trying to make as little noise as possible so I didn't alert any nearby Demon hunters that I was hiding in a giant trash can.

Then, I patiently waited. I was too scared to try to attempt sleep again for fear they'd catch me. After that one incident with Selene, I sort of have a slight phobia of Demon hunters. Hey, after getting tortured in a basement for six hours straight, you'd be a little scared out of your wits too.

Silence. Just silence. I let out a barely audible sigh of relief as I glanced down at my right ankle. The bleeding had stopped, but the jaws had torn up the skin. This looks remarkably similar to something that happened to me before, but metal teeth hadn't done it, Adrian had.

_"You really are stubborn as hell. Come on." Inuyasha turned his back to me and crouched down._

_I raised one of my eyebrows at him. "What are you going on about?"_

_"I've got a first-aid kit at my place, and you clearly aren't fit for walking."_

_"You're not going to carry me, either. I can walk on my own two feet."_

_"Just follow me, then."_

He was right, of course. He eventually had to carry me all the way to his place to patch me up. Adrian's venom is quite nasty.

"You're right, I am stubborn…" I started laughing at myself as I shredded a strip of cloth from the hem of my cloak to bind up the injured ankle. Without medical supplies, it was the best I could do until it closed up and healed.

"_Rose, who are you talking to…?" _Kagome was curious as to why I was talking to nobody in particular.

"…Sorry, Kagome, I was just thinking about something." I laughed again as I leaned back against a trash can after finishing my crappy bandage work.

"_I wish I could help you, but I can't touch solid objects. You aren't very good at bandaging yourself."_

"Well, I used to be even worse at it, but Inuyasha helped me improve."

"_Can't say that I'm surprised, he watched me do it dozens of times. That dog can't keep out of trouble."_

"You can say that again."

"_That dog can't keep out of trouble."_ That caused us both to laugh.

"I know what he'd be saying if he was here."

"What's that?"

"Rose, you're so clumsy! You're supposed to keep your eyes open for traps when you're fighting Demon hunters! PAY MORE ATTENTION NEXT TIME!" I imitated Inuyasha the best I could, and that got me a laugh out of the ghost priestess.

"_Hahaha, that's a pretty good impression of him!"_

"Thanks, I've been working on it. I can do Sesshomaru too!" All I did was look at her blankly and go "Hn". Poor Kagome keeled over with laughter, bursting into tears of hilarity.

"_He still makes that face!? Hahaha!"_

I couldn't help but smile at her. If Kagome wasn't here to provide me a bit of company, if she just sat inside of me, never speaking, I probably would have gone insane by now. She is the kind of girl that's the voice of reason when you need guidance, as well as a helping hand when you need assistance. It's not hard to make her laugh, too, and the sound that comes out when she's amused makes you forget about all your troubles.

"You're something else, Kagome Higurashi."

"_Well, I could say the same about you, Rosalina Redd."_

"It would be great if you could stay here forever."

"_Hmm, I suppose, but I can't. I gotta leave sometime when I finally find peace. If spirits don't cross over, they eventually become warped, twisted, and pretty much evil. Then they don't pass on to Heaven, but go to Hell instead."_

"…Sheesh, I'd never ask you to risk eternal damnation just to stay here and be my friend."

"_Yeah, but I would stay in a heartbeat if I was able to! This has been fun!"_

I guess it works both ways. She's been filling the void that I created when I ditched my friends, and I filled the void left in her when she died and had to leave everybody she loved behind.

"Man…stupid hunters ruined my sleep. I'll never be able to get some rest now!"

"_Cheer up! It's not the end of the world. You're a Half-Demon after all. Losing a bit of sleep won't hurt."_

"Excellent point, Kagome-chan. What should we do today to kill some time?"

"_Let's expand our search for Adrian towards the shopping district. I know it's crowded with a bunch of people, but you'll be going at night anyway, so there will be less people around. Plus, it would make sense for him to hide in a public place. We've searched every remote part of the city, and still no luck."_

"Right, as always. You're pretty smart."

"_I am over five centuries old."_

"So is Inuyasha, but he can hardly tell his right from his left." That made her laugh again.

"_Anyway, when the sun sets, I guess we'll be heading there."_

"Yup...! And maybe when we're done, I can go find somewhere to scrub down. I'm going to smell like sour milk for a week if I don't."

"_Maybe hiding in a dumpster wasn't the best idea…"_

"Nah, it was a great idea. Sometimes they bring dogs with them to sniff us out. They can't smell me in here!"

"_Good point. I'll need to remember that trick next time. I heard throwing pepper behind you to mask your trail works on them, too."_

"That would help, but I don't have any pepper."

"_Right…might be a good idea to get some. Who knows? It might work on Adrian, too!"_

"Yeah? When Dog Demons fly."

"…_Uh…Sesshomaru does fly…"_

"…"

…..

So my spiritual companion and I found ourselves sitting on the roof of a corner store later on that evening. I'd found nothing, so the two of us were sitting on the rooftop, chatting idly to one another.

"…I hate to ask such a sensitive question, Kagome-chan, but…how did you die?"

_"…If I tell you, you have to do something for me."_

"What's that?"

_"I want to tell you a secret. I never told anybody about it in life, so it bothers me…I think I can trust you. But, don't tell Inuyasha a WORD of it, okay?"_

"I promise." _If I ever see him again, anyway._

_ "First, I'll tell you how I died. It gets harder to remember a few things as time passes, but one thing a spirit will never forget are their moment of death."_

I stayed silent, but gave her an encouraging nod for her to continue.

_"Inuyasha told you it was one the night of the new moon. Indeed, it was. The town ended up being raided by a small band of Demons. I, well, forced Inuyasha to stay locked up until the battle was over. He had no say in the matter. Miroku and Sango had to help me stuff him away in the basement I built in our house, just for that reason. With the door locked on the outside, he couldn't get out."_

_ "When the battle was over…I didn't make it out unscathed. I died from my wounds. Inuyasha even tried begging Sesshomaru to use Tenseiga to bring me back, but by the time he found his brother, it was too late. The sword can only bring back the dead before the messengers come take the spirit away. I think he's still mad at me for leaving him out of the fight. When he's a human, he's kind of useless. No special powers or training, like Sango and Miroku."_

"That's…terrible…I'm sorry you had to endure that."

_"I never got the chance to apologize to Inuyasha for making him watch me die. He wasn't even there when I took my final breath; he was too busy trying anything he could to save me, like always."_

"Well, he probably beat himself up over not being there, so I guess you're even. Now, what's that secret you want to tell me, Kagome?" I have to admit it, I'm dying to know. What could Kagome possibly not want Inuyasha to know?

_"…I think that you'll be good for him."_

"Kagome, I don't even know if he LIKES me like that…"

_"Selene is right, you are blind! Do you SEE the way he looks at you? He looks at you so different from the way he looked at me…"_

"What are you saying, Kagome-chan?"

_"…I think that Inuyasha didn't love me like he thought he did."_

"Hold up! That man adores you!"

_"But we were never really; I don't know how to describe it. I think it's a case of "I love you, but I'm not IN love with you", do you get my meaning? I mean, he and I had nothing in common! Sure, he saved my life a billion times over, but…even when we were married, it was still like we were just…I don't know, friends who were crushing on each other?"_

"Kagome, I know for a fact that he loved you a lot!"

_"If I was still around, I think he would choose you over me."_

"You don't know that! You can't just decide what he thinks about. If you had this feeling, you should have talked it out with him. You can't measure love, especially his love. It's like a box. You put more things in it than what you take out of it. Don't ever doubt Inuyasha, okay!? He loved you so much, and he still does. Unlike most boys these days, when Inuyasha says something, he means it. "

_"But…"_

__"Kagome, you doubt yourself. Don't do that. Stop putting these thoughts into your head that you weren't good enough for him. You shouldn't compare yourself to me, or to Kikyo, for that matter. How he treats me and how he treats you are different because he feels different about us, yes, but don't pretend that you know everything that goes on in his head just by how he acts! You don't know what he's thinking. NOBODY knows what he's thinking but Inuyasha himself. Never assume how he feels about you until he tells you straight up."

_"….Thanks, I needed that. I feel better now. For a hanyou a fraction of my age, you're pretty smart."_

"Due to certain circumstances in my life, my brain was forced to mature faster than my body did."

_"…Sometimes that's a good thing. It makes you sensitive to others, more aware and attentive of the world around you. Like I said, I think you'll be good for Inuyasha. He's got that look about him, that look all guys get when they're in love. It's time for him to move on from the past, just like you do."_

"My past is still chasing me around. I can't put it behind me until I finish what Adrian and I started years ago." I gestured to my face. "Forgetting is hard when you have the stains staring back at you in a mirror."

_"It's not about forgetting. Forgetting about it won't help you to learn from a mistake and make a better future. It's the forgiving that you need to focus on. Can you do it? Can you forgive yourself?"_

"…Not yet. Not until Adrian lies six feet underground. He won't get any punishment by the law, so I'll have to take matters into my own hands."

_ "Usually, I'm the peace-loving one, but I have to agree with you on this. He's like Naraku. I hope he perishes in the pits of Hell just like that icky spider."_

"Hahaha! To think, you, Priestess Kagome, have a violent side."

_"I guess Inuyasha never told you about the Beads of Subjugation."_

"The WHAT?"

_"Oh, you are going to love this! You'll have to prank him with this next time you see him…"_

…..

_"Inuyasha, pay attention, you silly dog!"_

"Kagome…?" Great, I'm having another dream about her again. There she is, standing there in front of our old house in her miko uniform, looking as beautiful as the day I first saw her.

_"Yup, it's me! Don't worry, you are dreaming, but I'm technically here. In a sense."_

"Am I having one of those weird dreams where the dead contact the living…?"

_"I've had a busy schedule, I can't exactly drop by in person."_

"How the hell are you BUSY?! You're dead, for kami's sake!"

_"Not important. I wanted to talk to you…"_ It seemed like something was bothering her, so I raised my eyebrow and signaled for her to continue.

"You came all this way, spit it out, then!"

_"I…I'm sorry you had to watch me die…and that I locked you in the basement…"_

"…Why are you apologizing for that!? Besides, that was ages ago."

_"…You're not mad at me for keeping you out of the fight…?"_

"I was, but I got over it. You were only worried about me getting hurt. I wished you hadn't done it, but I can't change it, now can I? I just wish I'd been there…to say goodbye properly…" Damn it, am I gonna start crying in my own dream!? I can't cry in front of Kagome!

_"…She was right, exactly right…smart head on her shoulders…"_

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Okay, now I'm confused.

_"Oh, nobody! I should get going now and let you get back to sleep. Bye, Inuyasha!"_ She turned around, like she was going to go back in the house, but I called out to her.

"Kagome, wait a sec!" A thought had just occurred to me. While we're talking about important things… "I need to talk to you…about something…"

_"Don't need to say a thing. I already know. I've been here looking out for you for over five hundred years, of course I know about Rose. You two are adorable together!"_

"Wait, so…you're okay…with it…?"

_"Of course! She still doesn't know that you feel the same way about her, though."_

"She likes me…?"

_"For kami's sake, you both are hopeless! Of course she likes you! Sheesh!" _She seemed irritated and turned around to leave again, heading into the house.

"Wait, so, if you know about Rose…do you know where she is right now?"

_"Nope, I can't tell you where she is. I can only tell you that she's safe, and in good hands."_ A smile crossed her face, one of those smiles she always has when she's not telling me something.

"Kagome, what are you hiding!?"

_"Oh, nothing, nothing at all. I'll see you later, Inuyasha!" _She darted past the straw curtain and into the house. I followed her, but as soon as I entered the dark wooden hut, everything went back, and I woke up, back in my room.

Sitting up abruptly, I couldn't help but growl and curse. I think I woke the whole house, and at an early hour, too.

"WOMEN ARE SO GOD DAMN CONFUSING!"


	4. The Sword Maker

Chapter 4: The Sword Maker

_I can smell him; like he really is here…the scent of his body wash mixed with the earthy smell of the forest…I know I'm dreaming, of course. Cold, the air is so cold, when he's so very warm…_

_"Rose? Come on, time to get up again."_

"Yeah, I know. I wasn't really sleeping in the first place, anyway." I sat up and rubbed my eyes before turning my gaze to the priestess.

_"Looked like you were having a good dream."_

"Sort of, I guess. Not entirely, though." Sighing, I stood and dusted my clothes off. "Any idea on where to check today?"

"_Actually, I had another idea…remember last time we found Adrian and he slipped away because you couldn't get past his barrier?"_

"Yes, what of it?"

_"I think, before we do anything else, that we figure out a way to break it, and talking about Inuyasha yesterday gave me an idea. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I only know of one way you can smash his barrier. Do you have Fire Heart with you?"_

"Always." With a snap of my fingers, my familiars brought the pair of short swords to me. "Why do you ask?"

_"You've seen Inuyasha's Red Tetsusaiga, right? I was hoping that Totousai, the Demon who made Tetsusaiga, could help you with that. He's an amazing sword maker! Tetsusaiga has the ability to absorb power from things it has slain. I'm not sure if your weapons have the same thing, but Totousai may be able to fix that."_

"Well, how do we find him?"

_"Myoga mentioned once to Inuyasha that Totousai owns an antique shop here in Tokyo. I saw his name as part of the store's title when we went looking around in the shopping district yesterday, but I thought nothing of it until now. It has to be his store!"_

"Do you know where the shop is, exactly?"

_"Of course! Follow me, please. He's a little picky about who he makes his swords for, but he's really nice. If you mention Inuyasha, he might help you out."_

"It's worth a shot. Let's go!" Eagerly, I chased after the floating spirit. "Kagome-chan, you are a genius!"

_"Well, I try my best. Let's hurry up; we want to get there before it closes for the night!"_ I smiled at her, and she smiled back. She took us through the dark alleys of Tokyo until we slipped into the shopping district. There was barely a light on in the store when we reached it. It was so tiny, I nearly missed it, until Kagome phased through the front door and motioned for me to come inside.

After a quick check to make sure nobody was on the street, I slipped inside. A little bell jingled as the door opened and closed, but I ignored it and took in a light sniff of the air. Besides the heavy scent of incense, there was only one living being in here, and it was definitely the Demon Totousai.

He emerged from a room behind the counter of the antique shop, smiling warmly at me with his grey-bearded grin until I pulled my hood down to reveal my face to him. Yeah, I look a little scary, but I didn't want to give this guy any reason not to trust me. Hiding my face wouldn't help the situation.

"…Can I help you, miss?" The wrinkled bald old Demon clad in a dark green kimono regarded me warily with his overly large eyes.

"Yes, you can. I heard from a reliable source that you're something of an expert in blacksmithing."

"Hmmm! Every Demon, even in these troubled times, know that my craftsmanship is the best!"

"Good, then I'd like to make a request." I already had the swords in my hands, so I set them on the counter in front of him. Kagome watched silently as he gazed at the sheathed weapons with interest. "I already have these, and they've been reliable to me over the years, but I need a very special upgrade on them."

"What kind of upgrade? I'm not sure if I can do much with these. The craftsmanship, though the little bit of detail is nice, isn't exactly of very good quality. While they are made of the fangs of a Demon, much like my own pieces of work, they are just…well…not well-made." He had taken them out of their sheaths to inspect them, and the look on his face suggested he thought the handiwork was pretty shoddy.

"Yeah, my Dad wasn't too worried about the quality as long as I had a sharp object to swing at people." I sighed. "I know they aren't the best, but I don't really have time to get a whole new weapon. These ones took nearly a month to make, and I need this upgrade as soon as possible. I have an opponent, a Bat Demon, with an incredible shield. I've only seen one person ever take that down with a sword. You know him well, you made his sword. He's a hanyou, like myself, though I don't look it at the moment…complicated story, but straight to the point, I need the ability to smash down barriers like Tetsusaiga. Inuyasha's a friend of mine, and he once talked about what an amazing sword crafter you are." Okay, he only ever mentioned Totousai once as a cranky old bald man that got on his nerves, but I had to say something to get him to help me.

"That doesn't sound like the Inuyasha I know. He was an impatient boy back in the day, and he wasn't too pleased with me at times, but a hard worker, I have to admit." He put the swords back down on the counter. "What you are asking cannot be done with these poor excuses for swords. Their demonic power is…highly lacking thanks to the terrible work that was put into these blades."

"Well, there goes that idea…I really need that ability, or I'll never stop him…"

"But, I can do more for you than just a simple upgrade. Unlike the crafter who made these, it takes me very little time to re-forge a weapon. I can recreate these blades, but stronger, and much better! You will get the upgrade you ask, and much more."

"Really!? Oh, would you?! I have no money to pay for such a thing, but…"

"Nonsense. I ask for no payment."

"But, I have to do SOMETHING for your great kindness…" That does sound a little cheesy and something an old person would say. Bet I got that from the beast. Seriously, though, I can't just let him give me something this awesome without a favor in return. It just wouldn't be fair.

"If you help tidy up the shop while I work, I will call it even." The elderly man smiled to me. "I have a feeling you'll put the new weapons to good use. Despite the bad quality, these swords have been well-maintained."

"Put time into your weapon, and it shall never fail you when you need it most. First lesson my father taught me."

"Smart man." A large grin crossed his features. "My workshop is in the basement. Follow me, please." He went to the room behind the counter, and I followed eagerly. Kagome gave me a thumbs-up as she glided inside, taking up the rear. The back room seemed to act as a small office-like room, and upon further inspection there was a staircase leading into a forge underneath of the shop.

"I'll need new material to work with, so if you don't mind…" Oh, boy, he had the tongs in his hand. Guess I'll need my teeth pulled again.

"Oh, of course. No problem." They'd regrow in half a day anyway, so I didn't mind. He took both of my front fangs and set to work immediately at his forge. I quickly left to give him some privacy while I went upstairs to get to cleaning. It's only fair that I help him out in some way, since he was doing me such a large favor.

…..

I spent two days at Totousai's house. He let me spend the night on a Japanese futon in the office. But, it was so worth it! By the time I was done cleaning on the morning (well, technically night) of the third day, he was all finished. He ushered me into the workshop to proudly show me the reformed blades.

He had them both lying on a table in the workshop. They looked so gorgeous! He even re-did the details on the blades so they looked much more fantastic. I picked one up and it felt so lightweight, I flipped it in a full 360 degree circle in the air before catching it again.

"So light…they're perfect! The energy I feel from it…it's amazing! Uh…where are the sheaths?"

"These days, I don't really use traditional sheaths anymore. Weapons with hidden sheaths are much easier to handle in these times." He picked up something off of a shelf and gestured me closer. "May I borrow your wrists?"

"Sure." I held both my arms out. The cold feel of metal on my skin came about when he placed something around my left wrist, then my right one. Now I was wearing two simple silver bracelets, each shaped like a roaring flame, blazing across the surface of my wrists, wrapping around and around in an eternal circle. The details on the bracelets were just as intricate as the ones now etched onto the surface of Fire Heart.

"All you have to do is will them away, and they shall be stored in these bracelets. It is quite helpful to have them somewhere you can reach them in times of need, especially on that terrible night all hanyous have, eh?" He grinned mischievously before laughing and picking up both blades. "They're all yours. Now, I have something here you'll need to break…let's see, now where did I put it…I knew I pulled it from the shop shelves yesterday…"

"Why do I need to break it?"

"It's the same way Inuyasha gained the ability to destroy barriers. Finding a Bat Demon and killing it to absorb their power would take too long. It is a good thing I have a blood coral crystal on hand…guardians of the Bat Demon clans would use them to create their barriers."

"Now I get it."

"Here it is!" The old Demon placed a round crystal ball on the floor, and I gazed at it in wonder. It really does look like it holds a red piece of coral inside. The object does live up to its name.

"So, all I have to do is smash the thing, right?"

"Yes, my dear."

"No problem! If it'll help me defeat Adrian, so be it!" I took both swords and swung them down onto the red crystal. With very little effort, both blades shattered the object, cracking the surface like glass until it fell apart in various sized chunks of crystal. Then, red liquid came out.

"It…looks like blood…"

"Let Fire Heart absorb the power from that."

And indeed, it did. Both blades drank that stuff up, every last drop, until the blades shimmered with a red light, just like Tetsusaiga. It soon faded away, though.

"Wow, I did it! I should be able to break barriers now? Even Bat Demon barriers?"

"ESPECIALLY Bat Demon barriers."

"Thank you so much, Totousai!"

"It was no trouble at all. It's been a while since I've had any work to do with weapons. It feels nice, working at my craft again. You did an excellent job cleaning the store!"

"I really appreciate this, it means a lot."

"You're quite welcome."

"I'll be going, now. I have a terribly wicked Demon to slay!"

"Hahaha, the next time you see Inuyasha, tell him to stop by! I pity Tetsusaiga; the poor boy has no idea how to care for it. It's probably so dull it won't cut wet parchment."

"I'll pass along the message. Goodbye, and thanks again!"

"Good luck to you!" After the weapons vanished at my will to sheathe the blades, I dashed up the stairs and out of the basement, back out into the store. Once I was out of the store completely, I turned to Kagome.

"Thanks, Kagome! With this new power, I'll have a better chance at defeating Adrian!"

_"No problem. I bet you your swords are even stronger now, too! I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up doing something amazing, like having a few sword abilities like Inuyasha."_

"Yeah, right, like I'm going to Adamant Barrage Adrian to death, or send him to Hell with Meido Zangetsuha."

_"Nothing like that, but still something impressive."_

"Sure, sure. I doubt I'll ever be as powerful as Inuyasha is."

_"Inuyasha wasn't as powerful as he is now when I met him. It takes a little bit of time and patience, and of course hard work!"_

"Inuyasha, working hard…?"

_"Well, he works hard when he has the motivation…"_ The sweat-drop going down the side of her face was priceless. I was laughing my butt off while she scolded my teasing as we both left the shopping district. The only place left for us to look would be in the richer parts of town, though I doubt we would have any luck. Tokyo is a big place, and Adrian can mask his scent completely. I don't know how, but it's a trick he picked up over the years.

This whole thing has been a lot harder than I thought. I should have picked a smaller place to search.

…..

"Dude, he's gonna snap your arm in six different places, I wouldn't take the half-breed lightly." Smelly wolf, being annoying as usual. He just had to show up to watch, didn't he?

He's got a point, though. I'm about ready to rip this bat's head off!

"The wolf ain't lying, you fanged rat. Now, let's try this again. WHERE. IS. ADRIAN!?"

**SNAP!** **CRACK!**

Just to make sure he understood my threat, I broke three of his fingers by crushing them with one hand. I had my foot on his back, pinning him to the ground, another on his free arm, and I had both my hands on his other arm. I'd already snapped one of the bones in his forearm so it was jutting out of his skin. Now, he had three crushed fingers to add to the list of his injuries, including the ones he got in our scuffle. This Demon was absolutely pathetic. I only came out with a single scratch, and that was already closing up quick.

"God damn you, you filthy dogs!" He wasn't too happy with me, screaming off a bunch of cuss words and stupid insults, but he still hadn't given in.

Koga was just laughing. At least he understood I was dead serious. "This guy must have quite the pair on him!"

"There are things worse than death, dog! Adrian would do unspeakable things to me if he knew I'd given up his whereabouts and that of his mate!"

"**SHE'S NOT HIS MATE!" **

**SNAP!**

I doubt he's ever going to be able to use that foot again with how many bones I just crushed with a simple stomp of my own foot.

"Now you've gone and done it." Koga glanced over at me and sighed. "He ain't gonna tell ya, I can see it written all over his face. I say just kill the moron and get on home. Besides, don't you have a final to be studying for or something like that?"

"That can wait! THIS can't!"

"You've got PLENTY OF TIME! After the finals, ya got a whole month until summer vacation. If I heard right from Selene, you ain't planning on leaving the country to look for her until then, right? You gotta get out of school, first."

"I don't have time for this, Koga! I need to know where I'm going before I leave! Rose may not have that kind of time!" I didn't even know if she was still alive…

"How about you go home and take care of that studying you gotta do. I don't have that problem, so I can mess around with this punk for ya. Might as well, seeing as Selene and I are going with ya anyway." Yeah, as soon as I'd told them my plan, they announced they were going, too. Koga was easily going to take off of work all summer for it to help, seeing as he had a ton of vacation time saved up, and Selene would give her grandparents some excuse.

I kind of needed them, anyway. Without Willow and Selene acting as our transportation for the trip, travel would be much slower by plane, and obviously more expensive. Too bad if Selene was going, Koga had to go, too. He goes everywhere with her, especially after the Christmas incident.

"…For once, you're making some sense. All right, you have your fun. I'm going home."

"That a boy! I'll call ya later and tell ya what I get from him, all right?"

"…Whatever…Thanks, Koga."

"Hey, we're stuck being friends now because of our girls. I gotta make an effort to try to get along with ya. See you later, mutt."

"Later, mangy wolf." I shook my head at him and dropped the limp arm of the bat before I headed out of the woods and back towards the city. Sesshomaru would have a fit that I was back so late, but I didn't give a damn. Finding Rose was more important than Lord Fluffy getting his mokomoko in a twist.

Everything nowadays was less important than finding her. I'd skip school for the rest of the year to go find her, but not only would Selene, Sesshomaru, and Shippo all chew me out, but so would Rose. I know exactly what she would say if she was here.

_"Inuyasha, you idiot! I'm tougher than I look! You need to stay in school and finish the year, all right!? If you don't, you'll have to retake classes or go to summer school! You might even be held back! Your education is important! Stay in school or else, so help me God I'll pummel you!"_

Yup, that's exactly what she'd say to me. I can handle Selene and Shippo scolding me like a kid, maybe even Sesshomaru, but not her. We'd get into it and the fight would go on for hours until one of us gave up.

…Strike that, I doubt either of us would give up. Rose doesn't drop an argument if she knows she's right, which she would be. Hate to admit it, but she would. If I left now, it would just leave everything a mess.

If she's still alive by this point, she'd be fine for a little longer. It takes more than a few Demons to take her down. She's just as stubborn as I am. It's actually surprising all of the shit I've survived through, despite the odds.

_Damn it, if Koga's wrong…I'm gonna kill him! Then I'm going to kill Adrian, and THEN I'm going to make sure that every Bat Demon on the damn planet is dead! She'd better be alive, or I swear to God…_

For some reason, though, I feel like she's just fine, for now. I'm not sure where it's coming from. That's really weird. Let's hope my gut feeling is right.


	5. Barrier Smash

Chapter 5: Barrier Smash

**SLAM!**

"Even with your make-over, you're still getting soft, my dear girl."

**BOOM!**

"Rot in Hell!"

_**He's mine! I'LL KILL HIM!**_

_ "She's feisty today! I'm having trouble reining her in!"_

_ Just do your best, don't stress over it!_

While I was locked in battle with my ex-crush and former friend, Adrian Averin, my beast was going nuts. The honey-haired, blue-eyed, Victorian-dressing Bat Demon was at it again, toying with me while I tried to destroy him. Stupid bastard showed up out of nowhere while I was searching through an abandoned factory.

He was mopping the floor with me. The asshole was matching me punch for punch, kick for kick, and swipe for swipe from our deadly claws. He only had a few minor cuts and burns from my fiery attacks while I ended up with several gashes and a few bruises on my face. The only advantage this form gave me was a boost to my Demonic power and the fact that I'm now immune to his weakening venom contained in his fangs. The increased durability helps me out, too. He threw me through a concrete wall, and I'm still standing upright.

"Give me the necklace, Adrian, and I MAY let you walk away with your life and your dignity!"

"Why in the world would I want to do that? You look lovely as you are, despite the terrible condition of your garments."

"It's your fault I have to live like an animal! You took my parents, you took my home, and you took my life! I'll fry you alive for everything you've done! Fire Claws!" With my sharp nails covered in flames of red and black, I swiped at him, but he flew out of the way and drew his daggers.

"Nice try, Princess, but you'll have to do better than that."

"I'll kill you before you can manipulate me any further!" Snarling, I summoned Fire Heart like how Totousai taught me.

Bastard just scoffed at me and laughed. "Even with your stronger blood and new toys, you still will never be able to defeat me. Your humanity is your weakness! You suffer because of your mortal fears and the feelings of friendship you have for your comrades. If you want true power, you would cast aside your humanity and join me!"

"I cast aside almost everything I hold dear to me already! I won't sacrifice who I am just to finish you!"

"…And that, my dear, is why you will always lose. Ice Storm!" Shards of ice showered down from the sky, headed straight for me, so I had to use my sword ability.

"Flame Strike!" With the blades covered in flames, I used my attack to melt all of the ice so it harmlessly fell as a barrage of water droplets. "I can do this all day, Adrian! You won't stop me!" I blasted the bat himself with another Flame Strike, but he used his red Bat Demon barrier to defend himself.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh. Without that precious dog boy of yours and his barrier-breaking sword, you'll never defeat me."

"I don't need Inuyasha to take a wimp like you down! I can handle you on my own!" I swear, the look on his face was priceless when my blades switched from my unique shadow fire magic to the red glow, similar to his barrier and the glow of Tetsusaiga before it struck down his pathetic barrier. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he shit his drawers when I charged in and slammed both blades into his barrier.

"Barrier Smash!" The surface of the Demon's shield cracked all around the surface until it shattered like glass and vanished into nothing.

"**WHAT! HOW!?"**

"Inuyasha isn't the only strong hanyou on the face of the planet. Now, die!" I cut right through Adrian with my blades, but he turned to ice and melted. The real Adrian was behind the cheap ice made decoy and fluttered out of my range with his bat wings.

"Once again, I must applaud your efforts, but a new ability won't be the only thing you need to take me down."

"Just get comfortable, Adrian, you and I are destined to keep on like this until one of us dies! That is the fate you and I have both chosen! You come after me relentlessly, and I push you back every time!"

"Spare me the dramatic bravado, Rose. You're shaking in your haori."

"Flame Strike!" He blocked my long-ranged flame blast from my swords with a shield made of ice. The ice-made weapons are kind of getting annoying, but ice is quite the creative tool when you have the talent for it. Too bad for him my magic has the knack of destroying his creations instantly. There are only two purposes for fire when it comes to Demon magic: light to see, and unbridled destruction to dispatch your opponent ruthlessly.

"Damn, you're stubborn! Would you just drop dead already!?" My fury was egging on my inner Demon and adding fuel to the fire, so to speak. She was getting harder to manage for Kagome while I was busy venting my rage on Adrian as my personal punching bag. I got in several punches and kicks while he had his guard down before he sent me flying with another shower of ice flying towards me from his direction.

"I'll never die! You can never kill me!"

"You won't escape this time! This ends now!"

"My dear, you say that every battle, but here we are again! You just don't know when to submit to your betters!"

"Sorry, giving up has never been my style." With a smirk, I sent two simultaneous Flame Strikes his way, singing his arms and his wings. He let his guard down again when he thought I wasn't paying attention. "You're getting sloppy, Adrian, very sloppy. Your overconfidence will be the end of you!"

"YOU'RE the overconfident fool! A mere half-breed like you shall never defeat a strong Demon of pure blood like me!"

"I may be a half-breed, but I have my father's blood in me, the blood of my ancestors, great leaders of the Cat Clan!"

"Your father was weak, and your human blood makes you even more pathetic than his feeble power! Let me make you perfect! No more pain, no more heartache! You will be in the eternal bliss of the Eden I create for you!"

"No thanks. Being your puppet isn't truly living, and neither is living as this beast. I suffer because there are some things in this world worth suffering for!" We clashed our metal weapons, dagger to sword, so I easily disarmed the fool and sent him flying into a concrete pillar with a powerful kick. He toppled the pillar over and crashed right through an old glass window, sending him out into the dark of the night. I had to run across the room and climb the wall to chase him, but by the time I looked outside, his scent had vanished once again and he was gone.

…Once again, that tricky coward escaped right through my claws.

"Damn it, Kagome, I ALMOST HAD HIM! HE WAS RIGHT THERE IN MY GRASP!" In my frustration, I slammed my fist into the wall, cracking the concrete and sending chunks of it in several directions. The whole building shook with the force of my angry punch, but I didn't care. Thanks to our battle causing severe structural damage, this building would go down in a matter of days, if not hours.

"_I know you did, but don't beat yourself up over it. You live to fight another day!"_

"But for how long, Lady Kagome? Your powers will not be able to hold her back forever. She strengthens with every passing day, I can feel it. Her voice is in my head, and her personality is trying to take over mine. If this keeps up for too much longer, my soul will no longer be able to resist. It's taken so much damage already, I wonder how long it will take for it to heal itself…but if I don't stop him, it will never recover from this. She will take the only thing I have left: my body, my soul, and my sanity. If that happens, I can only pray for a quick end with as little casualties as possible."

"_We can't think like this right now, not when we're so close to stopping him! Don't lose hope! You can do this! What would Inuyasha say to this?"_

"…I know what he'd say. He'd tell me to quit being a big crybaby and stop wasting time wallowing in what could happen if I fail. He would tell me to focus on preventing it from happening, to not fail. Stop thinking and put your thoughts to action, in short."

"_That's exactly what he would say, and he's right! If you're so worried about time, let's go see if we can find him before the sun rises. He's wounded; he might not have gotten very far at all. Don't give up hope just yet! I won't let you quit, and neither would any of your friends if they were here!"_

"Hell, Selene would beat me up for being so pessimistic. She's the optimistic one, not me. If I upset her, Koga would surely join in on the beating too. I'd be in some real trouble." I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Kagome sure knew what to say to cheer me up so I can keep moving forward. "Thanks, Kagome, you're a big help."

"_That's what I'm here for! Let's get going!"_

"Right! We're going hunting!"

…..

After hours of searching, we came up with nothing. I sighed and turned back to Kagome, who was watching me bandage myself with strips of my dress and cloak.

"I look a mess, don't I?"

"…_Yeah…"_

"Selene would be yelling at me right now for not calling her to come take care of me…she gets mad every single time. Her healing abilities are nice, but they tire her out pretty quick. I wouldn't ask unless it was a life or death emergency."

"_How did you and she meet, anyway? You did say you moved there from somewhere else."_

"The two of us used to live in Texas when we were kids. My parents met there at an art museum when they were young. Dad had a passion for painting while Mother was a nut for photography. They made a pretty good couple, even though art was the only thing they had in common. My father, a Demon of mainly Hispanic origin, with a mortal lady of Eastern European descent…they were total opposites. Their personalities clashed a lot, too. Dad was the wild one while Mother was old-fashioned and gentler."

"_You wouldn't think that a hanyou from the past and a girl from the present would end up together, but we did."_

"Ah, I see your point. Anyway, enough about my parents. Selene, I met her in kindergarten, on the first day. Though she was just a kid, she still could tell I was different from the rest of the kids. She was curious about it, because she had never sensed something quite like me before. Selene asked me to hang out with her during recess, and after she introduced herself as a priestess and started inquiring about me, we just hit it off from there."

"_So, what happened…?"_

"When Selene turned twelve, she had to leave Texas. Her father was the priest of the family, see, but for his spiritual work, he had to leave home a lot and travel. Therefore, he couldn't train her at home, and she couldn't go with him. Texas didn't have the necessary teachers to train her as a dragon priestess, so we said our goodbyes and she left. We kept in contact, though. After she found out I was going to the high school close to her grandparents' house, she decided she would finish her training there so she could be with me. She told her teachers that she wanted to be taught by family, but the real reason was because she wanted to look after me."

"_You have a really great friend in her."_

"I suppose I do…after all of this, I hope we still are. I'm not sure if she's mad at me for ditching her, and everyone else, like that…Ouch!"

"…_Still a little sloppy, but you're improving. Try it like this…"_ The female ghost used her hands to gesture to how I should fix up the make-shift bandage, and it worked out better when I followed her instructions.

"Thanks."

"_I'm sure that Selene will forgive you, if she even got mad in the first place. Don't worry about that."_

"Yeah, I have more important things to worry about." Glancing at my reflection in a broken piece of glass on the ground by the trash can I was hiding behind in an alley, I sighed. "He really got me good. Inuyasha would have a fit if he saw these bruises…I'm glad he won't. These should be gone in an hour or two."

"_Not a day goes by that you don't think about him, hunh…?"_

I couldn't help it, my face flushed scarlet. "Well…I…"

"_Don't worry about salvaging my feelings, Rose…You can talk to me about anything."_

"Except Inuyasha. You're my friend, that's a topic I wish to avoid, for your sake." _I'd rather not think about it anyway…the constant reminder of the last time I saw him…how he looked…I'm doing this all to keep them safe…I hope they understand…_

"_Let's talk about something else, like tomorrow. We get a whole night for you to relax!"_

"Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to that. It would be nice to see MY face again instead of hers."

…..

_**Knock, knock.**_

Smells like Sesshomaru. _What the hell does he want?_ I was just in the middle of finishing my homework, for kami's sake.

"It's open. Come on in."

"Inuyasha." My older half-brother came in with what looked like a newspaper rolled up under his arm. As usual, he was giving me that cold look. I hurriedly closed my binder up and pushed it away from me as I got up from my bed.

"What do you want?" I really wasn't in the mood to deal with whatever he wanted to talk about.

Sesshomaru casually took the rolled-up newspaper from under his arm and threw it at me. I caught it with one hand and unrolled it as he leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest.

"…Why are you giving me a newspaper from Japan…? How did you get this, anyway?"

"Acquaintance of mine. I told him to look out for…unusual news."

Guess he thought it was important. I took another look, and realized what the front page was talking about when I deciphered the Japanese kanji. The headline read "Phantom Strikes Again!" The whole article was about some mysterious person that kept going around and saving people occasionally from disasters, always vanishing afterwards, which is how he/she got her nickname from the media. This particular incident was with him/her running into a burning building and saving two kids. The date printed on the newspaper was sometime last week.

"...The photo…" Looks like a photographer snapped a picture of a pale-skinned figure in a cloak. I couldn't see the face, but I had a feeling I knew who this person was. I kept reading the article over and over.

"…Is it her?" Sesshomaru seemed to be asking for my opinion.

"Running into a burning building to save a couple of kids. Reckless and stupid. That sounds like her…" The incident happened in Tokyo…WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF IT EARLIER!? "Sesshomaru, this HAS to be her. It can't be just coincidence that the first Phantom spotting was around the same time she disappeared. And, it's Tokyo. TOKYO! She knows that's where we came from. A big city like that, it's easy for her to hide…"

"…Are you going…?"

"Of course I'm going! Finals are going to start tomorrow; they'll be over by the end of the week. Then, we still have a whole month left of school…we'll spend that time preparing to go to Tokyo." I was already making plans in my head. "Don't you have another place up there, in case of emergencies? Can we use that while we search!?" Yeah, I'm asking a favor of Sesshomaru, shut the hell up, it's for Rose's sake.

"Hn." The silent bastard just gave me a nod and left the room.

"Sesshomaru…thanks." Ugh, now I feel like I need to scrub my mouth out for saying that. He paused for a second, but then he just walked away, closing my door behind him.

As soon as she was gone, I bolted for my cell and dialed Selene's number.

"_Hey, Inuyasha, what's up?"_

"Selene, I think I know where she is! Start making plans and coming up with excuses. Make sure to tell Koga as soon as you get off of the phone with me!"

"_Wait, slow down, you know where she is!?"_

"Thanks to Sesshomaru."

"_So, where are we headed?"_

"Tokyo, Japan."

"…_Why didn't I think of that one?"_

"THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I SAID!"

"_Good thing we have a month to plan for the trip, this is going to be a long one…Oh, gosh, and you guys are going to have to start teaching me Japanese!"_ She sounded almost giddy over the phone.

"Well, at least one of us is excited to go." I rolled my eyes at her, even though she couldn't see it.

"_Hey, it's frigging Tokyo, for Christ's sake! I've always wanted to go! I know it's going to be a serious mission and all, but we need to schedule a little fun in while we're there! Rose would beat the crap out of me if I didn't get her some souvenirs!"_

"…You're hopeless, Selene."


End file.
